Bhindi

Bhindi, okra, ladies’ fingers – call it what you like, this is a simple recipe (basically, put stuff in a pan and fry it) that makes a great side dish.

You will need:

2 onions, chopped into half-rings

600g frozen bhindi

1 block frozen ginger

Spices

1 tsp mustard seeds

1 tsp heng (asafoetida)

1/2 tsp dried red chilies

Lemon juice

Salt

Use a good nonstick pan with plenty of oil to fry, as bhindi tends to stick. Gently heat the oil, and fry the mustard seeds, heng and chili on low heat.

Add bhindi and fry. You will notice tiny sticky strings between the pieces — it’s not done until these have completely disappeared. This means we need to get rid of quite a bit of moisture from the bhindi, so never cover the pan.

When the bhindi is half-cooked, add the onion and ginger. Fry gently until the strings disappear — this could quite easily take the best part of an hour in total.